It is well known that the role of an actor is not all fun and games. It is not always possible to add special effects or have stand-in doubles. It is therefore very common for actors to transform themselves into a completely different person for some roles. They may need to alter their weight and their muscular strength so they can transform themselves into the character they are playing. Here are 12 of the most impressive physical transformations in the movie industry.
1/ Jake Gyllenhaal in Southpaw (2015)
Jake Gyllenhaal is already well known for changing his physical characteristics in film. Almost always in a good shape, Gyllenhaal has gone from an athletic build to a muscular boxer while also transforming his physical appearance into someone who is extremely thin.
For his role in Night Call, Jake Gyllenhaal played the role of an unemployed man. He had drawn cheek bones as if he was no longer eating. In contrast for his role in Southpaw, he went through intense training so that he could sculpt his body with pronounced muscles. He quickly lost his muscular strength again for his role in the film “Stronger” when he played a thin man… with no legs!
2/ Javier Bardem in “The Sea inside” (2004)
In the film The Sea inside, Javier Bardem plays the role of a tetraplegic 21 years older than him. He stayed lying down for three months while regularly shaving the top of his head so that it would look like he was bald.
3/ 50 cents in “Things Fall Apart” (2011)
Everyone knows 50 cent has a good physical shape, so imagine him weighing around 30 kg less! This was the weight the rapper/actor had to lose for his role as the American football player diagnosed with cancer in the film Things Fall Apart.
4/ Chris Pratt in “Guardians of the Galaxy” (2014)
Would believe it it we told you that Chris Pratt was in fact overweight before becoming an Avenger? For one of his previous roles the actor weighed 136 Kg! After suffering health problems linked to his obese weight, Chris Pratt decided to take matters into his own hands and adopted a healthier diet running 8 km per day as well as doing 500 press-ups!
5/ Robert de Niro in “Raging Bull” (1998)
Robert De Niro has always been an imposing character but has never mixed his charisma with a big stature. In fact the actor was relatively skinny especially in films like Taxi Driver. However for his role as the boxer JakeLaMotta in the film Raging Bull, he had to gain muscles. His transformation was quite impressive as not only did he have to gain muscles but he had to become overweight for the same film. He ended up having to complete two very different physical transformations.
6/ Charlize Theron in the film “Monster” (2003)
Charlize is one of the only females in this list of physical transformations in cinema. She went all out for her role in the film Monster. So that she could gain 14 kg the actress ate a diet of chips and donuts. For the changes to her face Cherlize had latex masks so that she had a harder and pronounced face. The actresses’ hair and eyebrows were also dyed white and and partly shaved. Her hair was also dried out and made to look greasy.
Other than physicals transformations, the actress’s makeup meant that she could pale her complexion and she wore a dental prosthetic for the role. What is even more astonishing than her transformation is that she was able to lose the 14 kg only 3 weeks after the end of filming!
